Card selecting device



1951 L. J. GOTTSCHALK CARD SELECTING DEVICE Filed June 10, 1949 OJ-ldbb INVENTOR.

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Patented Dec. 4, 1951 UNITE D STAT ES PAT ENT 9 F E [C E 2.5775460 v CARD SELECTING DEVICE Lionel J. Gottschalk, NewOrleans, La.

ApplicationJunezlO, 1949, SerialNo. 98,224'

3'Claims. l.

Myyinvention-relates to card selecting devices. An object of this invention is to provideadevice forseparating selected cards from those rejected or: non-selected by, mechanical meansthrough the useof magneticattractionto which thecards respond.

Another object is to provide means bywhich the rejected cards may beseparated from the selected'cards and-still be held in proper alphabetical or numerical arrangement with relation to'the entire stack of cards while at the same time providingready access to the selected cards in order that they may be consulted.

Another object is to accomplish the foregoing results by providing cards having properly placed holes, slots,- and magnetically attractive metal clips, these clips being so positioned as-to be contacted by the magnet-.of:amagnet-tipped slide bar.

Another object is to provide. a filing tray for cards whereby the cards may be readily. transferred while in the tray-tothe-selecting; device without removal from the tray.

The novel features whichI-believe to be characteristic of this invention are set forth-particu larlydn the appended claims. The inventionitself, however, both as to "organization and operation, together with additional objects and ad.- vantages thereof, will. be a best understood from the following description of a. specific embodi ment: when-read in connectionrwith the: accompanying drawings inwhich,

Fig; l-is a perspectiveview of the device having a smallportion broken away.

Fig.- 2 is a side elevational'view on-a reduced scaleand showing a plurality of cards in the device some of which are-being selected.

Fig. 3 is a front elevational viewon an enlarged scale showing two-of the-'cards,=No; 1 of which has been selected.

Fig. .4 is "a perspectivefview of a .trayin which the cards may be kept and taken to the selecting device;

Specially designed cards are intimately involved in combination with the structural features of the. device andwill. be describedfirst with reference to Fig. 3 of the drawings. The cards which are designated in general by the numeral 5 are provided with centrallypositioned slots- 6=in their lower edges.- At opposite: sides of "these slots, magnetic metalclips 1 and Bare secured to :the cards in suitablemanner such as by stapling. Each card near-one of itszen'dsais provided with an upper holefl and lowerholeilll for a purpose which willappeanlater in the description as will also slots and other holes now to b'ementioned. Each. o-ardnear its upperedge is'provided'with'a' set of holes ll andanopposite set designated I2; For illustrativegpurposes, each set is shown as having five holes. Asso ciated. with the two sets of holes respectively shown incard No. 1',,there are open ended slots [3' and I4, While in card No. 2, there are differently located slots i3 and. M. It will be understood that these slots for cards bearing different information are differently located with relation to the sets of holes II and [2 respectively. Each card somewhat inwardly from an upper corner thereof is provided with a closed slot 15. A plurality of rods such as indicated by the letters RS are provided for variable insertion through the holes and slots.

The selecting device proper includes a base member Hi, the upper side of which is provided witha longitudinal channel. I! for receiving a slidable. bar. l8. A handlev I9 is secured to the forwardend of this bar while avpermanent magnet. issecured. to its rear end. Asshown in Fig. 1,-thismagnet consists of two inclined side members 20 connected by a cross member 2|. The upper side of the bar. [8 carries a rib 22 over which-theslotsliof the cards are .adapted tdfitand be kept in alinementuponthe sliding bar. [8. aswill beunderstood fromFig. 2. Front and rear end members 23 and. extend upwardly from thebasemember [6. The lower portions of these endmembersas shown inFig. 1 arehcut away-to slidably receive the bar [8 and its. rib 22. One .ofthe sides of the end members 23 and. is provided. with-corresponding slots 25.whieh cur.ve upwardly to an open end. The other sides of these two members have their cornerseut awayarcuately as indicated at 26, and each..is. provided with a lower perforation 27. Ihese two members near their upper edges are provided with sets. of holes I l and I2 corresponding to the holes II and I2 in the cards 5.

Fig. 4 shows a tray having end members 28 and29 whose lower portions are cut away-the sameas the end members 23 and 24 of thedevice. The end members28 and 29 of the tray atone side thereof are providedwith .elongated slots-30 and 3| while near the bottom of the opposite side, they are provided with holes 32 and 13.3; One of thesides of the tray is. hinged as indicated at 34'. It should be noted that the upper. edges of the endmembers 2B and 29 are lower than those of the members23 and 24 of the selecting device in order that the tray may be used toadvantage with the selecting device proper as will be explained in connection with themanner ofoperating the device.

Theoperation and advantages of this invention will beapparent in connection with the foregoing description and the accompanying drawings.. After the stack of cards to be selectively separatedisplaced between the end members 23 and 24 so as to rest upon the top surface of the slidebar l8 andastride the centering rib 22, two or more of. the selectingrods. RS are inserted through the proper holes in the end members 23 and 24 so as to extend through the proper holes and open ended slots in the stack of cards which are cooperatively related to the cards it is desired to select. Then the slide bar 18 having the inclined magnet 202l attached to its rear end is pulled forwardly. As this magnet successively comes into contact with the magnetic metal clips 1 and 8 secured to the bottom edges of the cards, those cards having the properly placed open ended slots I 3 and I4 corresponding to the inserted rod or rods will be drawn downwardly so as to rest upon the base member l6 as shown in Fig. 2. The cards which are not to be selected will be held up by the rod or rods RS which were passed through one or more of the closed holes indicated at H and I 2. Therefore these cards resist being attractively drawn down to the base member.

After the slide bar has been completely withdrawn, a rod is inserted through the holes 9 in non-selected cards so as to extend past the cut away end covers at 25; a rod passed through the holes 21 in the end members and through holes in the selected or droped cards; also a rod R preferably larger than the selector rods RS is passed through the open ended slots 25 in the end pieces and through the slots l in the cards. the selector rods are then withdrawn. The selected and lowered cards are held in place on the base member l6 by the rod which was passed through the holes 21 and Ill, these cards of course being lower down than the rejected or non-selected cards. It is to be understood that the distance the holes 9 and Ill are from the adjacent edges of the cards is less than the distance the selected cards drop when the slide bar is removed. Then by means of the rod passing through the holes 9 of the rejected cards and through the cut out 26 of the end members, these rejected cards can be swung around the rod R as a pivot away from the selected cards which can then be gone through for desired information, after which the rejected cards can be quickly swung back into their original respective places in the stack as will be readily understood by referring to Fig. 3.

It will be understood that after the cards relating to a broad classification have been selected, it is possible to make further selections from such cards for sub-divisions coming. under the broad classification.

While a stack of cards may be taken from an ordinary filing tray and placed in the selecting device, Fig. 4 shows a specially constructed tray which is adapted to be used in cooperation with the selecting device in such manner that the cards will remain in the tray when placed in the selecting device. In order to accomplish this result, the lower portion of the end members 28 and 29 are cut away the same as the end members 23 and 24 so as to straddle the sliding bar l8 and its rib 22. In the use of this tray, the rod R on account of passing through the slots 30 and 3| of the tray and the slots l5 of the cards, serves to keep the cards properly positioned in the tray. The side of the tray hinged at 34 permits the rejected cards to be readily swung upwardly and to be swung back into original position after the selected cards have been inspected.

I claim:

1. In a card selecting device, the combination of a base member, two spaced apart end members extending upwardly from said base member, the lower portions of said end members being cut out, a bar slidably supported on said base membed and adapted to slide lengthwise through said out out portions, a downwardly inclined magnet secured to the rear end of said bar, a plurality of cards placeable between said end members for resting on said bar, magnetically attractive members secured to the bottoms of said cards and adapted to be successively contacted by said magnet to displace selected cards downwardly with relation to the other cards, and means associated with the latter cards whereby they resist such displacement.

2. In a card selecting device, the combination of a base member, two spaced apart end members extending upwardly from said base member, the lower portions of said end members being cut out, a bar supported by said base member for sliding lengthwise through said out out portions, a downwardly inclined magnet carried by the rear end of said bar, a plurality of magnetically attractive cards placeable between said end members for resting on said bar for successive contact by said magnet as said bar is slid to displace selected ones of said cards downwardly with relation to the other ones of said cards, and means associated with the latter cards whereby they resist such displacement.

3. In a card selecting device, the combination of a base member, two spaced apart end members extending upwardly from said base member, the lower portions of said end members being cut out, a bar supported by said base member for sliding lengthwise through said cut out portions, 9. downwardly inclined magnet carried by the rear end of said bar, a plurality of magnetically attractive cards placeable between said end members for resting on said bar for successive contact by said magnet as said bar is slid to displace selected ones of said cards downwardly with relation to the other ones of said cards, means associated with the latter cards whereby they resist such displacement, each of said end members at one margin thereof containing a curved open ended slot, each of said cards at its margin corresponding to the aforesaid margin containing a closed slot, a pivot rod insertable through said open ended slots and through said closed slots upon which rod the non selected cards may be swung back and forth with relation to the selected cards, and means for retaining the selected cards in their said downward position.

LIONEL J. GOTTSCHALK.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

